Twins and beauty: it’s all in the mouth

The twins after the study. The extracted twin is on the left. The twin who used the Fraenkel device is on the right.

Twins before surgery

The dental arches of the twins after the study. The extracted twin is on the left and the Fraenkel device twin is on the right.

H. L. Eirew conducted a very interesting study on the effect of orthodontic treatment method on dental and facial structure. I first heard about this study in the Fall 2009 issue of Wise Traditions.  I requested the study through inter-library loan so I could read the article.  If you wish to get a copy of this article you can e-mail me (compbody at gmail.com). I found one of the pictures on the internet and took the others out of the paper I received through inter-library loan (which was of lower quality).

The twins before surgery. The twin with the extraction is on the top. The twin who used the Fraenkel device is on the bottom.

In this study two identical twins were denied standard orthodontic care by the Britain’s (glorious and blessed) National Health Service.  The girls were instead going to have their deciduous canines extracted to free up space in their mouths.  One girl had had this procedure conducted already before the study began.  The second twin had not had her teeth extracted yet and was convinced to use Dr. Fraenkel’s appliance instead.  Fraenkel’s device solves the problem by widening the arch of the mouth to create room for the teeth instead of removing excess teeth.

The dental arches of the twins after the study. The extracted twin is on the left and the Fraenkel device twin is on the right.

I do not know enough about dental work to judge the qualities of the twin’s dental arches, but the arch of the Fraenkel device twin appears to be more “u” as opposed to “v” shaped: it is wider at the front teeth.  The Fraenkel device twin’s two front teeth are parallel and lined up with each other.  The extraction twin with a v shaped crown has a narrower arch and her front teeth are angled.

The twins after the study. The extracted twin is on the left. The twin who used the Fraenkel device is on the right. Source: http://www.tjspahldds.com/extracting_teeth.htm

As the study progressed the Fraenkel device girl started looking much prettier than her twin sister.  In the before picture it is debatable which girl is more attractive, but afterward the girl who used the Fraenkel appliance is clearly more beautiful.  In fact the study had to be called off because the girl who had the extraction was getting so distraught over being the “ugly sister.”

While the extraction girl does not look ugly, she is certainly not as beautiful as her sister.  The extraction girl looks average–actually pretty–in terms of the population today.  If this study had not been conducted and both sisters would have had extractions and both sisters would have looked the same as the “ugly” sister.  Instead, one sister got to become a knock-out.  The wasted potential for beauty in women of the industrialized world brings me to tears.

This study highlights the importance of facial width for beauty.  Since I have learned Weston Price’s theories, I have noticed there is a definite correlation between facial width and attractiveness.  Ones needs to have broad shoulders and hips as well but this study does is only concerned with the face.  The narrowing of the face from improper dental care gives a similar symptoms to the Ichabod Crane syndrome which comes from having a low fat-high protein diet.

Citation

Eirew, H.L., 1976, “An Orthodontic Challenge,” International Journal of Orthodontics, Vol. 14, pp. 21-25.